Journey

Journey

May 2024

Journey

When you align yourself with the Divine, by default, you find the courage to fulfil your journey on Earth  with self-respect and dignity, says Shivi Verma

I am considered radical and  unconventional by those  around me. The reason is that  I often take steps that others find  difficult to undertake. 

Often, when matters reach a  head—when people think I am  weak and can be manipulated or  bullied because certain vested  interests shackle me to them—I  surprise them by walking away or  declaring my independence.  

When dangers or unfairness  surround me, I get reminded that  my sojourn here is temporary and  that nothing can stop me from  doing the right thing because I am  protected by the Creator, the most  potent force. 

This has involved walking out of  an abusive marriage, quitting a job  where I was being disrespected, or  taking on people who think they  can lord over me because of their  superior financial or professional  status. When I had left my toxic first  marriage, I was alone in Mumbai  and had no friends or relatives to  fall back on. Furthermore, I had  offered to resign from the job I  was doing because I felt stifled and  lacked the space to grow in it. So,  I was alone, homeless, and almost  penniless in a big bad world and  had only my instincts to help me  survive. 

My ex-husband threatened  me with dire consequences if I  decided to act autonomously, since  I was young, pretty, and without a  roof over my head. But I knew that  I would be fine since I was doing  the right thing by not succumbing  to his threats, violence, and abuse.  I knew that I would be taken care  of. And things did come around.  I came across some very good  people who helped me instead of  taking advantage of me. I found a  decent place to live in and even got  a raise and promotion at the same  job I wanted to quit.  

Such turnarounds happen because  a part of me perceives the world as  unreal, as though I am watching  a play. And I have the power to  improvise on the spot since I am  a director backed by a powerful  producer. My eyes are forever fixed  on the One who dreams this world  into existence. Who keeps guiding  me and telling me that it’s all a  game which can easily be played  by being astute, intuitive, brave,  and self-controlled. However, I am  aware that nothing happens in a  vacuum. It’s important for women  to be educated and financially  independent to be able to take full  charge of their lives. 

Nothing empowers you more than  earning your bread, bearing your  expenses, and making your own  decisions. 

Whenever I have looked at my life  from the perspective of the Divine,  I have found no disparity between  man and woman. He hasn’t  straightjacketed men and women  into strict gender-based roles. He  hasn’t created a woman to find her  purpose in being a good daughter in-law, wife, or mother alone. It’s  our fears that generate this image.  He wants a woman to experience  life as much as a man and be  treated with respect, equality, and  love. He wants her to hustle hard  to build a life and fortune, and  blossom into her full potential. He  wants her to seek knowledge as well  as liberation. 

Now it’s up to women to decide  who they want to be—an object  by playing into a man’s sexual  fantasies, a slave who has no agency  over her life and decisions, or an  individual who is aware of her  divine origin and purpose? 

Editor-in-Chief of Life Positive,  Shivi Verma is a devotee who found all her answers in loving  God passionately. 

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